Location: Hawkesbury River, New South Wales
Event: Yowie Encounter?
Date: Feb 2013
Hello Dean,
My name is Phillip. I’m a 66 year old self-funded retired businessman, and my wife is *******************
Firstly, we did not sight a yowie, but you may still find our experience of some interest.
Please excuse the length of the following details as follows.
We own a large motor cruiser that we now have on a private mooring in Yowie Bay, Port Hacking.
Recently, I researched the internet through curiosity to find out the reason why the area was originally named Yowie Bay. It came as a surprise to me that the area was reported by the early white settlers and the local indigenous tribes to be inhabited by various types of “hairy bush creatures” and known in the local aboriginal language by certain names that are now commonly referred to as “Yowies”.
Before this recent enlightenment I could only very vaguely remember something from many years ago in the media mentioning something about so called “Yowies”. My curiosity led me to Google “Yowie”, where I then became aware of your website.
So these coincidences have prompted me to contact you about some unusual incidents that definitely relate to the information contained within your website relating to “Yowies”.
This past February my wife and I sailed our boat up to Broken Bay for a holiday on the waterways located within the Ku-ring-gai National Park and Hawkesbury region.
On 18th February we had moored our boat in Yeomans Bay which is in a secluded area surrounded by steep mountains. At about 3pm as we were enjoying the peaceful setting the quietness was shattered by a tremendously loud kind of “roar” that started off and rose in volume, then fell away to end about fifteen seconds later.
My wife and I looked at each other in shock, and we both said simultaneously “What was that!”
The “roar” was made by a living thing, not a mechanical device. Besides, this is in a location of the national park with absolutely no roads or even bushwalking track access.
The shear decibel level of the sound echoed throughout the bay so loudly that it implanted itself in my memory, and even now weeks later I can simulate the “roar” but at a massively reduced rate due to my small lung capacity in comparison to what made it.
Anyway, we settled in to enjoy our holidays living on the boat over the next couple of weeks but I could not get that mysterious “roar” out of my head. And I don’t know why, but I had an uneasy feeling that “something” was watching us, and as night fell I could sense the presence of “something” close by on the shoreline.
We then visited some friends of ours who were also on their own boats in the area and took up an invitation to go ashore over at Apple Tree Bay near Bobbin Head, and do the bush walk up to Mount Ku-ring-gai township to have lunch.
There were five of us in the party doing the walk. Starting at water level it’s a steep climb for 70% of the way up towards the destination.
It was hot and humid, and the ladies stopped frequently to rest along the way. I brought up the rear, and everything was okay until we approached an area full of house sized boulders. Then I started to get that uneasy “gut feeling” that “something” was watching/stalking us. Just at that point, we were all overcome with a very strong pungent odour similar to a rotting cow or big roo that was roadside kill.
Everyone started gagging, made comments about the smell and moved on away from the area.
I had a good look around the area but there was nothing that I could find dead, but then as I was about to move on to catch up with the others the stinking smell drifted away! I thought that was very strange at the time because dead animals don’t stop stinking all of a sudden.
I caught up with the rest of the group and had an uneasy feeling until we finally reached the perimeter houses of Mount Ku-ring-gai.
When we started up the street through these isolated houses I noticed that almost every house had a guard dog, and they all set each other off barking as we passed.
Having lunch at the small shopping centre I asked a local fellow why everyone had guard dogs in the houses bordering the national park? He said that the people were a bit “sus” of what lived in the dense bush, whatever that meant.
When we all headed back towards Apple Tree Bay on the bushwalk the ladies were commenting on how they would not stop near the big boulders because of the bad smell, but when we got to the area they were surprised that the smell was gone!
At that place I started to get wary again, and the feeling stayed with me all the way back.
There was no further incidents until a few days later when we had moved the boat around to Smiths Creek (past Cottage Point Marina) where I distinctly heard another “roar”, but it was a long way away over the mountains in the direction of Yeomans Bay, and was only just audible at that distance.
You must appreciate Dean, that all this happened BEFORE I had even known your website existed, or had any knowledge of “yowie” history.
In fact, I had been quite perplexed and mystified as to my behaviour on returning from our boating holidays, and now I have a possible explanation for it.
I was actually brought up in the bush in the Nyngan area and have never been troubled by spending time alone in the wildest type of terrain, or sleeping out under the stars, etc.
I know the sounds of all the domestic farm animals as well as the wild animals and birds, and I know the bush pretty well, so I’m going to keep an open mind at this stage.
That Ku-ring-gai National Park area is very steep, rocky, littered with caves and overhangs, and is very hard country for humans to move around in, but has abundant fresh water, animal and bird life, and edged in places by rural property growing fruit, vegetables and poultry.
I wonder if all the guard dogs in the houses bordering the park have something to do with that?
My wife and I certainly aren’t seeking attention Dean, but if my input assists in any way I am pleased. It’s funny how one is always sceptical until something happens to you personally!
Best regards,
Phillip
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